Derivation
by Shamera
Summary: Post-game. Politics is a powerful thing on Pulse, and a lot more irritating than what Maqui wanted to think about. But as Bartholomew Estheim lobbies for l'Cie rights, Maqui has to learn that people don't always like to see reason.
1. Chapter 1

**Derivation**

_n. 1; The source from which something is derived; origin. 2; Something that is or has been derived; derivative. 3; Development of a theorem. _

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Maqui was not stupid.

He may be a teenager, but he was a valuable member of Team NORA and he was their chief mechanic. He liked reading physics books for fun, although he learned better than to speak geek to people after Yuj had decided that he needed to be a "normal" teen and watch normal teenage movies and go shopping... for hours on end. He was smart enough not to flaunt what he knew as well, because he was well aware of what he _didn't_ know. He had barely passed high school, after all, despite being able to correct his teachers in his science classes.

He wasn't very smart when it came to history or languages, and knew that he still made mistakes with his spelling (thank the Maker for auto-spell check, right?), and he was a bit awkward with other people. In fact, he had never really felt comfortable around other people before NORA, and had rather liked sitting in a dark corner as a child and tinkering with toys.

Then he met Snow. And Yuj. And Lebreau. And Gadot. They had become the family he had lost early on before the system had taken him in, and they were all so bright and vibrant and honest in a way that Maqui wasn't used to that it made him want to be just like them. Especially Snow, who was a _hero_ and Maqui had never met a hero before. It helped that they had taken to him as quickly as he had taken to them. Gadot encouraged his obsession with machines and praised him for the methods that had his teachers yelling at him for ruining perfectly good, working parts. Lebreau sympathized when he had trouble with girls, or when he just wasn't feeling up to par. Yuj was his best friend- who constantly nagged his fashion sense and made sure he got out of the garage enough to see some sunlight every day.

And Snow... Snow was _awesome_. He was strong and lucky and charismatic and everything the popular kids at school had been, except he was also exceptionally nice and genuinely liked helping people. Maqui wanted to be just like him. When Snow had gotten together with Serah, Maqui had felt a bit awed with how even the prettiest girl in the world had fallen for Snow.

And then he met Lightning.

In passing, of course, but he was smart enough to duck right back into the garage when he had seen the pink-haired soldier march into the Lebreau's bar with a stormy look on her face. The scary part about that first partial meeting was that he _hadn't_ heard screaming and yelling when she spoke to Snow. He had peeked out half an hour later to realize that the scary soldier lady had left and Snow still had a terrified and befuddled look on his face. That was the first time in his life that Maqui was glad he wasn't Snow.

But now, after the entire incident with the Purge and the fall of Cocoon... Maqui realized that he was gearing himself to step into Snow's shoes.

And while he had been distantly scared of Lightning the first time he had seen her, not even realizing who she was and how much butt she could kick, he was now pretty much terrified of her. He hadn't been before. Scared, yes, but it was in a respectable manner. Scared for Snow was more like it. He was a smart kid; being afraid of her was a smart fear to have. He had seen her kick a Behemoth King five meters in the air before with ease. Fear was a healthy response.

But he wasn't scared right now. In fact, he was feeling rather pissed off. At Yuj. Who was laughing at him.

"This is _unfair_." Maqui hissed out as he ducked his head from around the corner. "How does she always know?"

Yuj couldn't stop laughing long enough to get speak without wheezing. "Aww, man, I told you, didn't I? I told you she'd know!"

Maqui cursed under his breath and stepped heavily on Yuj's foot, making the older boy yelp in pain, but even that didn't stop the snickers.

It had been three weeks since the incident involving the crash landing of his beloved airbike, and it was the second time that Maqui had tried to make his way across the city to pick up Hope from school. The first time he had explained it to Yuj, he had whined that he needed the other boy to go with him to make it look like a casual trip and that they had coincidentally crossed by Hope's school just as it was time for everyone to go home.

Yuj couldn't stop laughing back then, either.

Maqui was starting to think that Yuj wasn't as awesome a best friend as he had originally thought.

"There's no need for violence," Yuj wheezed out after he finally got his breath back from laughing. "You should have learned _last_ time that she's going to know."

Maqui scowled, and then dared another glance around the building they were hiding behind. He caught the tail-end sight of Lightning and Hope as they vanished around the corner, looking like they were in the middle of a deep conversation.

No one even _knew_ he was coming out. Alright, Yuj knew, but Maqui made sure the other boy didn't have time to tell anyone else before he dragged the both of them out there. He really had learned from the last time, and he had found out that Miss Lightning really didn't normally pick Hope up from school.

"This is a _conspiracy_," he muttered darkly. It had been _three weeks_. Even Lebreau had pretty much forgiven him by now, especially seeing as he normally pulled kind of silly stunts to being with. Lately, she was just mad about how he ruined her favourite skirt by using it as a grease rag.

"Dude, this more than just a conspiracy," Yuj grinned from behind him, giving him a hard pat on the back. "This is _Lightning Farron_. She will kick you ass so much as look at you, and she knows _everything_ you're up to. No shit."

He knew that. Of course he knew that. But the more he thought about it, the more worth it his actions seemed. Not that Yuj would understand that at all. Yuj enjoyed chatting up all types of different girls, although he never had a steady girlfriend before. It wasn't for lack of interest on their part, either. It was because they had both decided that Team NORA was more important than girls and that's what they wanted to dedicate their time to.

"I don't see how you're going to explain being here this time, anyway." Yuj continued, oblivious to Maqui's thoughts. "How were you going to get him to follow you? 'Hey, want to hang out at the arcade neither of us go to?' Man, it makes you feel like a creep offering candy to children."

Maqui waved his best friend off, still looking around the corner, hoping to catch sight of the boy he was looking for. "I hadn't gotten that far yet, okay? I would have thought of something, though."

"Uh-huh." Yuj nodded sagely. "Just like you'd think of what would happen if you were cock-blocked once again?"

Okay, so that was too harsh. Maqui huffed and whirled around, jabbing a finger at the blue-haired teen. "It's not like that, okay! I'm just... trying to get Hope out to socialize a little- he should be one of us, right? It's hardly fair that we don't get to see him all that often, and especially because Miss Lightning is convinced that we're bad influences! I mean, we're totally _great_ influences!"

Yuj gave him an incredulous look. "...Like that time when you crash landed your bike outside of the colonies and got him into trouble?"

"_Exactly._" Maqui responded, and then kicked himself when he realized what he had just agreed to. So much for best friends always having your back. "Wait. I didn't get him into trouble at all! I was the one who was grounded all this time!"

His friend sighed, and then reached out to pat him on the shoulder, looking almost placating. "Maqui, Maqui... when are you going to realize that _that_ kid-" He pointed toward where Lightning and Hope had disappeared to. "Is totally out of your league?"

Maqui narrowed his eyes. "You said the same thing to Snow about Serah."

"Yeah, and she's _still_ out of his league. Dude, it's a damned miracle she agreed to marry him, okay? And it took the world crashing down before Lightning agreed, you know that? Literally. Cocoon. Crashing down."

Maqui's cheeks colored slightly as he mumbled under his breath, "I'm not out to marry Hope or anything. Just... wanted to talk to him."

"Talk to him on the phone." Yuj shook his head, and then shrugged an arm around Maqui's shoulders, pulling the dejected boy along with him out into the open. "You're not going to get him alone here, no matter how many times you try. Sergeant Farron? She _knows_, dude. She always knows."

"She can't know every time."

Yuj sighed as they walked down the street back to where Maqui had parked the airbikes. "Maqui. Friend. Fellow Team NORA. You do know who Bartholomew Estheim is, right?"

Maqui kicked at a pebble and shoved his hands into his pockets, feeling somewhat stupid now. "Of course I do. He's the only trying to form a council down here on Gran Pulse. He's Hope's dad."

"He's the reason that Snow and all the others aren't being burned at the stake." Yuj stopped, looking more serious than he had been the entire conversation. "He's pushing for some... really big changes here. On how to rely on ourselves and not the fal'Cie. Building settlements and harnessing our own energy, growing and hunting food rather than relying on it being generated. Dude. He's pretty much tried to say that the entire Orphan incident wasn't the fault of the l'Cie."

"So what? That's all true, anyway." It wasn't their fault. Team NORA had decided this long before the events in Eden, anyway. Lebreau had drilled it into his head that people couldn't help being chosen to be l'Cie, and that the only thing Snow had to account for was how he hadn't trusted the rest of the team enough to help him. That had stung, but it hurt more to know that there was something they couldn't help Snow out for. It had hurt Maqui to realize that despite being heroes, there were still some things that couldn't be done by them.

Snow being a Pulse l'Cie had been a painful fact to bear, especially watching the broadcasts daily and seeing news of the Sanctum soldiers hunting down the errand group of Pulse l'Cie. It had taken a day to get used to the idea that Serah had been a l'Cie, but Serah was bright and kind and sweet. She was nothing like what the history lessons had taught them about Pulse l'Cie... and neither was Snow.

"True? Of course it's true." Yuj rubbed at the back of his neck, a habit he had picked up years ago to look sheepish, and was picked up by the rest of the male members of Team NORA whenever they were in trouble... and now whenever they were thinking hard about something as well. "Doesn't mean people are going to believe it."

"Why wouldn't they believe it? All they have to realize is that l'Cie are people, too." Maqui shrugged as their approached the airbikes. "S'not rocket science."

"It's not that easy. People don't like changing their ideas on things. You've seen how people argue on the holo-vid. It doesn't matter if someone's right, most people just don't like being wrong."

"Their fault for being stupid." Everyone was wrong sometimes. Guys more than girls, apparently, especially during certain weeks of the month. "'There's always someone smarter than you out there.' That's what Lebreau always said."

"Yeah, but not everyone thinks about that." Yuj picked off his own parking breaks to his bike, but before getting on, he leaned closer to his companion, voice lower now to prevent anyone from overhearing. It should have been fine, seeing that most of the reconstruction work on Gran Pulse had been to create homes and businesses rather than rebuild their impeccable surveillance system. There weren't any street cameras or the sort around them, and wouldn't be for a long time- at least, not until the newest laws were to be put into effect after their agricultural boost. Not that the law enforcement was having an easy time with the after-effects of the lack of Cocoon fal'Cie.

"It's not just that Hope's one of the former l'Cie," Yuj said more seriously, and Maqui took a moment from starting up his bike to listen to his friend. "Although that's a big part. It's being the kid of a upcoming politician. People aren't very impressed with Mr. Estheim's ideas. They don't want to stop relying on the fal'Cie, and they certainly aren't ready to point fingers at the benevolent beings who have cared for us for hundreds of years. Why believe that they were trying to kill us? It's easier to think that a group of evil Pulse l'Cie ruined their lives."

"Don't be an idiot, Yuj," Maqui grumbled. "They saved as many people as they could. It was the fal'Cie's fault that everything happened."

"People don't see it like that, man."

"Don't see it like the truth?" He sighed. "Why are we even talking about this, anyway?" Because, really, he wanted to sulk just a little more about having been thwarted in his plans by Lightning... again. Maybe he should really try a different method. Should he really just try to call Hope and see if the other boy wanted to hang out? It just felt felt... more special to try and see the other boy again.

Maqui yelped as the older boy reached over to swat him on the head. The blond reached up and readjusted his headphones, giving the blue-haired boy a dark look. Yuj had been the one to get him the headphones anyway, surely the other boy didn't want to destroy those?

"We're talking about this because you don't seem to get it." Yuj snapped. "Bartholomew Estheim is a very public figure now, especially promoting all his controversial ideas. And it's not a huge secret that his son was one of the l'Cie that brought down Cocoon... do you really think Hope would be able to walk home from school unescorted?"

"He's just promoting common sense!"

"Common sense to us, maybe. But you've seen how many people decided to stay up in Cocoon despite it pretty much being a dead planet now. It's just a pretty decoration hanging in the sky without Orphan to power the fal'Cie that lived there. But all those people who won't leave even knowing that they might die up there? _They're_ so scared of Pulse that they'd rather hole up and die. People don't like change, man. You're going to have to understand that before I think Sergeant Farron lets you see Hope again."

Maqui deflated a bit at those words, knowing that if the woman had her way, he'd _never_ see the platinum-haired boy again.

"Politics, Maqui. You'll need to learn them and build up a reputation for yourself."

"What reputation? We've got all the reputation we need! We're Team NORA- we're heroes!"

Yuj jabbed a finger at him before starting up his airbike. "Then maybe you just need to convince Mr. Estheim of that before you try telling Miss Farron."

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It only took a few seconds before the holo-vid feed went through, and another moment before the screen flickered on and Maqui grinned widely at the sight of the pale boy on the other side, looking just a little frazzled, probably from trying to find his ringing phone.

"Hi, Hope!" Maqui said brightly, really hoping that he didn't have grease stains on his face or something from working in the garage earlier. But as long as Miss Lightning wasn't watching, then he should be alright. It wasn't as if Hope had never seen him working before, anyway. Or like the other boy hadn't gotten as dirty as him while helping him fix a few things.

"Maqui." The younger boy broke out into a smile, which just made the blond's grin wider. How was it that he had never noticed how brilliant the younger boy's smile was until three weeks ago? "What's up? Finally out of being grounded?"

"Hey, just because no one ever blames you for anything doesn't mean that it's the same for me!" Maqui protested, but he still had his grin. He was just...happy to see the other boy again, that was all. "I was off the leash a week ago. Just been a bit busy since then." Busy trying to see Hope again, but the other boy didn't need to know that. "How have you been, though?"

"Okay." Hope disappeared off the screen for a second, but then reappeared with a with a few school-grade logs. Maqui felt the slightest pang of guilt when he realized he must have dropped it to answer the phone. The younger boy had probably been working on homework, then. The phone was placed in a docking station, and the blond could see the entire desk, with the computer on and multiple school logs. It really looked like a lot of work, more than what he had attempted to do when he had been in school. "High school's pretty tough."

"Looks like it." Maqui glanced at the amount of homework. "How'd you end up with so much work, anyway?"

"Dad signed me up for a bunch of classes. He'd have me take self-defense classes, too, if it weren't for the politics."

Maqui frowned, remembering when when had crashed in Sulyya Springs three weeks ago. "You totally kick ass already- why would you even need self-defense classes?" Not to mention, he wouldn't doubt Miss Lightning would be teaching the younger boy more things about fighting than any classes ever could, anyway.

"I don't." Hope's smile widened at the compliment. "But I can't exactly use magic in front of anyone. And he wants me to be able to fight back in something happens, but at the same time he wants to keep that 'non-violence' image for the former l'Cie to make us look harmless." The silver-haired boy rolled his eyes. "I know he's been talking to Light about it- Snow, too. Sazh is pretty lucky- he's just being promoted as the father who did everything for his son- it apparently makes the adults sympathize more, since Dahj is so young. But Light can't rejoin the GC, and I'm not allowed into anything resembling a military occupation, either."

Personally, Maqui was a bit glad that Hope wouldn't run off to some dangerous job, but he didn't want to say that in front of the other boy. "So what are you going to do?"

"Right now?" Hope's smile turned a bit sheepish. "Finish school. Four more years, and then, _wow_, another four years of college. How exciting."

Maqui chuckled a bit at the sarcasm. He hadn't finished high school, mostly because he hadn't a use for school especially when he was good enough at fixing things anyway, and his time was so much better spent on his mechanics and building stuff for Team NORA. It had all paid off when the Purge had started and Bodhum was stocked with all the vehicles that Maqui had fixed up.

"Hey, at least school's as safe as it gets. But, hey- think you have some time this weekend from all that homework you've got stockpiled up?"

Hope pointed to the pile of school logs. "This? I'm just finishing things in advance. It's not actually _that_ much- I'm just getting a few weeks ahead, that's all. But I should have time this weekend, why?"

There it was, the moment of truth- and Hope had already said that he was free that weekend, so- "Did you want to hit up an arcade or something?" Maqui winced a bit as he realized that came out a lot more high pitched and nervous than he had intended, and cleared his throat just a little nervously. "I mean, it's no big deal or anything- I just figured that you might want to play some video games instead of studying all the time and doing all that homework-"

"That sounds fun." Hope looked a lot more nonchalant than what Maqui felt. "I haven't been to an arcade. But..." he looked thoughtful for a moment. "We could just play here, too. I've got a bunch of games- what type do you play?"

What type of games did he play? Maqui could have sighed in relief. For some reason, he had figured that Hope was the type who didn't play video games, but spent all his time reading and studying and generally being a all-around good kid, but... he should have realized, really, that Hope really was just another teenage boy, just like him. "Oh, man, I'd play any racing game you have. Any at all."

This was promising. Going to Hope's house sounded even better than just meeting at some random arcade.

"Racing games?" Now Hope looked just a little worried. "...Oh. I don't... um, you can bring a few if you want? I have a bunch of consoles."

"Yeah, I've got a bunch of games. What would you like to play?"

The silver-haired boy looked a bit sheepish. "I don't... well, I've never played those games before. Well, I _have_, but... that was a really long time ago; don't quite remember how to play those."

"Really?" Maqui stopped when he realized that he hadn't even asked Hope the type of games he played. "Well... what games did you play?"

"Just the stereotypical shooter ones?" The pale boy shrugged. "I guess I'd probably have to stop playing those soon, too, anyway."

"No, no, I could totally play shooter games with you!" It was a total lie, since Maqui couldn't shoot accurately at all, but he could feel his face flushing as the younger boy stared at him curiously. "I mean, you don't have to play my games if you won't want to- I could totally play yours, too."

Hope gave him a strange look, but then shook his head. "We can play yours. I'm pretty sure my dad's going to throw mine out soon, anyway."

Maqui floundered for a moment, but finally attempted a nod and grin. "Yeah, sure, I can bring my games over. So I'll... I'll see you in two days?"

"Sure. It'll give me some time to finish this up so that dad's got nothing to complain about this weekend." Hope gestured to the pile of school logs on his desk. "Might as well get ahead just in case something happens."

"Yeah, it's good to get ahead- hey, what do you mean by if something happens?" And something else registered to Maqui. "Why would your dad throw out your old games, anyway?"

Hope just shrugged before turning back to his homework. "Politics." There was a second when the younger boy looked extremely bitter about the word, but then that second was gone and Maqui wondered if he had just imagined the look, especially when Hope turned toward him again with that same sweet smile. "Anyway. I'll see you later, Maqui!"

"Yeah." Maqui regained his good humor fast as he beamed at the other boy. "I'll totally see you later."

It wasn't until he hung up that Maqui whooped where he was sitting in the garage, stretching his arms up high as he grinned foolishly up at the ceiling. Was this a date? Most likely not. No way. It definitely wasn't a date, but it was _something. _It was the hanging out that he wanted to do. It was him finally getting to spend some time with Hope again.

It was a perfect excuse to get him out of the shopping trip that Yuj had planned that weekend.

He's just have to make sure to tell his best friend that. In perfect detail, of course, it wasn't like he had asked if Hope was busy _that weekend_ because Yuj had planned that stupid trip.

Oh, man. It was going to be a _good_ day.  
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Part 1/3

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**AN:** And here I go again! Actually, I wrote quite a lot of this arc for NaNoWriMo this year, and figured I might as well put up one of the stories I'd written even if no one would ever remember _Kinematics_ from, what, half a year ago? Yes, this is the sequel, although it's not as if anyone really needs to read the first to figure this one out. Synopsis on the first story? Maqui finds out he likes Hope. Yeah. I'm just kinda wordy. And yeah, the entire thing's been written, but you know NaNo... words, words, words, and a desperate need of an editor. XD;

So welcome back to the _Kinematics_ arc, for the three people who might remember this story and pairing. 8D


	2. Chapter 2

**Derivation**

_n. 1; The source from which something is derived; origin. 2; Something that is or has been derived; derivative. 3; Development of a theorem. _

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Never let it be said that a teenage boy wasn't proud of his video game collection. In fact, Maqui had two large knapsacks strapped onto his airbike that morning, whistling tunelessly as he cataloged it all in his head. He had spent the past two days practically floating on air even as Lebreau had ordered him to clean the kitchen and bathroom and then scrubbed at his face with a towel because apparently he looked like he had just emerged from the Mah'araba by the time he was done.

He had spent a good hour scrubbing down and having both Yuj and Lebreau check him over before he went to gather up his games, and then another hour to get to the area where Hope lived... the area was so different from where Team NORA had set up base, especially with its stacked apartments built up in the sky... high security, that was for sure. Higher than what was needed for Pulse in a settled area... Maqui didn't exactly approve, figuring that the security would probably have been better put to use in areas on the outer rims of the colonies, where factions of the military still patrolled and worked hard to protect everyone in the settlements.

Still, it wasn't like he had a say in any of this, anyway. Maqui liked where he was- even if it was just being the mechanic for Team NORA, he was proud of who he was and what he could do. He didn't really want to be some big-shot politician or anything of the sort- Bartholomew Estheim had that covered quite nicely, and while he would love to learn more on piloting from Sazh, he always felt like more of a behind the scenes guy. Someone who fixed things and made it work rather than someone who shouted their importance to the world.

Still... he approached the door nervously, realizing there wasn't any sort of lock or key... nothing more than an identification pad on the side with a scan and a number pad. Maqui tugged nervously at his collar, dropping his bags of games next to him as he debated to himself whether he wanted to call Hope now and say that he was just... waiting before the front door, like some sort of creeper.

Maybe the games at home idea wasn't the best thing. If they had met at an arcade, then any awkwardness would have been easily drowned out through the noise and other teens in the building, but here...

There was a click, and Maqui startled as the door slid open to reveal a grinning Hope, dressed more casually with his black shirt and green capris, still wearing the scarf and his gloves, but without the jacket and even his shoes, so that he was just padding around in ankle socks.

"Hey, you're early!" The silver-haired boy stepped back to invite the other in, but then peered curiously at the two bags. "Are those... all games?"

"I brought a few consoles and extra controllers just in case. I know you said that you have the consoles, but..." Maqui held up one of the bags with a grin. "It never hurts to be extra prepared."

"Guess not, but if these were supplies, I think we'd have enough to survive a war." Hope looked amused as Maqui went to get his other bag, and nudged the budging bag with a socked foot before he chuckled. "I don't think we'd have enough time to go through these for _years_."

"Then I can leave these with you, and I'll come over again so we can play." It was a big jump, but Maqui figured it was a good idea. Why wouldn't it be a good idea, right? It was a fantastic excuse to come see Hope again.

"Maqui, I live... an hour away?"

"So? You visit Miss Lightning's house all the time, right? It's the same distance."

Maqui beamed as he watched Hope try to hide a smile behind his hand. He was getting familiar with the younger boy's mannerism already, and while he wished Hope didn't feel the need to hide his smiles, it was nice to see them never-the-less.

"Besides," Maqui dared a brief clap on the shoulder for Hope, figuring that it would seem casual enough and wanting the other boy to feel included. "You're one of us now, okay? I don't mind driving an hour to and back every day to see you!"

Once that was out of his mouth, Maqui flushed. That... sounded a bit more, well, less like a comrade and just-a-friend than he had intended. And despite everything, he really did want to be Hope's friend and someone the other boy could depend on. It wasn't just a crush- crushes were kind of lame, anyway. It was the fact that despite everything, Maqui wanted to be Hope's friend first of all. He wanted to be able to support the other boy whenever he could, in whatever manner he could.

"You should have better things to do than video games." Hope scolded lightly, although it made Maqui sigh in relief realizing that the silver-haired boy hadn't picked up on his feelings through that statement. He would just have to be more careful in the future. He didn't want to... ruin any sort of friendship with the boy.

"You know what they say about all work and no play, though," Maqui teased back. "You should always set aside some time to just enjoy yourself."

"I thought you liked what you do, though." Hope helped to lift up one of the packs, pulling it over his shoulders almost effortlessly in a way that made Maqui want to sigh again. He had figured that it would be too heavy for the other boy so he could show off being able to carry both at once, but... that never seemed to turn out the way he planned it to.

"I do! I mean," Maqui pulled up his own bag and made sure not to wince at it pulled at his arm muscles. "It's the best. I wouldn't trade it for the world, you know? But it's still work! Even if you like doing schoolwork, you should always give your brain a rest." He grinned shamelessly. "Or in my case, give my muscles a rest!"

Hope laughed at they moved the bags over in front of the holo-vid screen and dropped it unceremoniously. "What muscles?"

"These muscles, of course!" Maqui grinned widely and flexed his arms, uncaring that whatever movement was covered by this sleeves, anyway. It didn't matter as long as he made Hope laugh, which he was managing just fine right now. "Don't you know? I'm the one to call for if you need heavy moving!"

"Right- like that time when you needed help lifting those water jugs Lebreau wanted you to move?"

"That was only because I sprained my wrist that day," He wiggled his fingers at the younger boy with a grin. "Or else I'd be able to move all of them- at once!"

"You've only got two arms. There were five jugs, and you needed help with all of them."

His grin didn't deflate even as Hope gave him an incredulous stare, and he leaned in closer to the other boy, keeping his eyes staring into Hope's. "You don't believe me?"

It felt almost like a victory when the other boy backed away with a flush, and turned to look elsewhere as he exclaimed, "Well, maybe if you prove it next time!"

Feeling elated by the movement (had Hope been embarrassed? There had to be a reason for that, right? Was there a chance for him at all?), Maqui just nodded toward his bags and unzipped the top, grabbing a handful of games. "I can definitely prove it! Here, we'll play this one- I'll show you just how much my character can lift-"

Hope laughed as he snatched the box away. "That's cheating!"

"What? How's that cheating? That's not cheating! You wanted to see how strong I was, right? I'm totally super-humanly strong." He snatched the box back. "I'm just going to make the avatar do all the work for me, that's all!" Still, his heart beat faster as he watched Hope laugh, and for some reason, he wanted to add: _I can be strong enough for you._

"Fine." Hope's smile was wide even as he finally took the box from Maqui again, and scanned the back just a moment before opening the case to insert the disk into his system. "Show me how to play, then. We'll see."

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It was a few hours later when Hope paused the game to answer a call from his father, and Maqui yawned widely. He hadn't sat around to play video games for hours on end in... years, actually. It wasn't as interesting when you were playing by yourself, but with someone else... well, he had made Hope laugh twelve times in the past few hours. He had kept count. Even if he hadn't wanted to, he had just... beamed each time and it seemed engraved in his mind.

Was this was it was like to have a crush on someone? Because he had never cared much for other people before outside of Team NORA, and while girls were pretty, he never had time for them over all the things he assigned himself to do. He enjoyed them being pretty well enough, but hadn't felt any need to spend extra time with them or even impress them. It was hard enough work to impress his own teammates and be a hero.

And it just felt so much harder to impress Hope, still, his thought sputtering around the other.

The younger boy wandered back into the room while Maqui stretched and smiled at the older teen. "Dad's asking if you want to just spend the night over here, since it's a bit late to be driving all the way back home."

Was it that late? Maqui took a look out the window and startled to notice that it was night time already. Where had the time gone? A grumble of his stomach told him that it must have been hours since he last ate.

Gadot and Lebreau would understand, right?

"Sure, that sounds great." He stretched out his legs and stood up, wincing slightly as his joints cracked. He didn't want to feel old at seventeen! "I'll just give the others a call." Which reminded him. "Do you want me to call for pizza or something, too?"

Hope brightened at the prospect. "Yeah, that would be great. I'll just tell dad we're getting pizza and he won't have to bring anything home."

"Any preferences?" He'd have to look up a pizza place near here, but that wouldn't be too hard.

"Extra large! And lots! You can choose what goes oon it, I just feel like I haven't eaten in _days._" Hope grinned at him, and the went back to his conversation with his dad, leaving Maqui to wonder what that even meant. Was it a test? Was it to see how much he knew Hope to see what the other boy would eat? What if the younger teen was allergic to something?

...Or maybe he was just over-thinking it. There was a good chance that Hope would eat just about anything. That was the experience that Maqui had with people his age (or around his age, anyway- Team NORA counted, right?), and especially since they were growing boys...

His fingers hesitated over the dials and he grinned to himself. Staying over? He wasn't stupid enough to think that anything was going to happen (and honestly, he didn't want to think of it like that yet), but that just meant it would save him the trip back tonight and then the next morning. He had originally planned the spend the weekend with Hope, anyway, although he hadn't figured that he'd be allowed to stay over. He wondered if they would spend the night playing video games as well. It didn't sound so bad at all.

He took a moment to bask in the knowledge before dialing the generic number for pizza and... sprouting off some toppings that he figured Hope might like. This could turn out well... or very bad.

"So," Maqui looked up as Hope flopped back onto the couch, drawing his legs up even as he picked up the controller again. "He'll be back in an hour or so since his meeting ran late. But we can order out for just about anything we want if pizza's still on your list."

"Already got it," He waved his phone at the other boy. "How come your dad's leaving you by yourself, anyway?"

"He's not. But he's just... been busy with meetings, you know? Trying to change the world and all that. He used to just do the paperwork, so he says he knows what strings to pull and what's actually legally possible." Hope shrugged even as his eyes remained on the holo-vid screen. "He's trying to make things better."

"Sure, but-" Maqui cut off as he thought about he. He knew that Bartholomew Estheim was making the world a better place, but being an orphan himself, it just felt unfair that Hope was left alone so often when he still had a parent with him. From what Snow had explained, it was a near miracle that Bartholomew was even alive at all, seeing that he had been left with the Cavalry and the rest of them were Cie'th... not to mention the portion of the population that died during the fall of Cocoon.

"It's okay, though." Hope interrupted, still fiddling with his controller. "I understand. If it weren't for the laws he helped establish, all of the former l'Cie would be lynched by now." He turned toward Maqui finally. "So you really can't say anything about the fact that we still have our magic. Please."

"Of course not!" Maqui waved the thought off. "I wouldn't tell anyone at all. You saved my life that time with it, so it's a good thing you still have it."

Hope barely managed a strained smile. "Y-yeah. It's just... everyone's angry enough already, and people would probably be even less happy if they knew that we kept our magic."

"Angry? You guys managed to save everyone! I mean... okay, not _everyone_, but everyone who's still alive should be thanking you guys."

"It just... doesn't work that way, Maqui." The younger boy sounded very quiet. But he shook his head and changed the topic. "Did you want to finish this game tonight or did you want to start another one?"

Maqui stared at Hope for a while, wondering what was wrong. He had always figured that the younger boy was the happy, optimistic kid that he wanted to take care of since he and Dahj were the only two in the group who were younger than him, but... That brief conversation made him feel like there were too many things that he wasn't seeing, and too many parts of the equation that he was missing. But he didn't want to push, and Hope had already trusted him with a lot of information. Just be patient, right? Besides, he was there to make sure Hope had someone to talk to.

It hadn't been hard to realize that the others wouldn't talk to him, since it was the same thing that Team NORA tended to do with Maqui. It was because he was the youngest, and because they wanted to protect him- all good things, but it had frustrated him to no ends before, and while it still did now, he just tried to focus on his part in the group- he was there in the background to provide support.

He couldn't imagine how the other boy felt, but if it was anything like how he had felt before, then... well, it wasn't pretty.

Could he even dare to tell the other boy that it was going to be okay? Because that was what Team NORA did... they were the heroes and they always saved the day and made sure it was okay for everyone. That was how it went. But the truth of the matter was that they hadn't been the ones to save the day when Eden had been overrun. They had helped, yes, but the people who had saved everyone they could on Cocoon that day had been the l'Cie. Snow had told him a brief tale of his journey, and Maqui wasn't stupid enough to believe that was all of the story. Snow had a tendency to leave out the dirty details, embellishing until things sounded like they were straight out of a fairy tale.

An impossible task. A princess (Serah) to save. Friendships forged. Families mended. Happily ever after.

But it had been Maqui and Yuj huddled in front of the holo-vid in the month Snow had been missing, watching the Sanctum continue their hunt for the errant l'Cie, the destroyers of all that was good and right. They had spent countless hours staring at the screen and watching, hoping, that Snow was still alive and alright, and that he hadn't turned his back on his hero ways like the holo-vid had proclaimed that he did.

He had watched then as the commentators put up wanted posted everywhere, proclaiming how dangerous these l'Cie were... and all he could think about during that time was that Snow would never hurt anyone if he could help it. That Serah was the sweetest, gentlest person he ever knew. That the girl in pigtails they had captured also looked sweet and bright. That the boy they claimed was a dangerous terrorist looked so much younger than him and so terrified on the screen.

Were those people really the enemies of humanity that the government made them out to be? There had to be some mistake somewhere.

Everyone in Cocoon were taught as they grew up that Pulse was Hell. That Pulse l'Cie were monsters and out to kill everyone. It was such an easy story to believe, like the monsters that lurked underneath the bed. No one had ever seen a Pulse l'Cie, after all. The last time anyone had seen someone from Pulse had been five hundred years ago during the War of Transgression. And instead of making peace, Cocoon had lived in fear for five hundred years, waiting for that retaliation.

Now that he thought about it, Maqui couldn't understand it.

He risked a glance at Hope while they were playing their games, and watched the younger teen's pale green eyes as they focused on the objects on the screen. From what he had learned, the fal'Cie chose people at random. They leeched on to the closest humans who could do their bidding and turned them into l'Cie. Shouldn't that mean there were some people who had no choice? Shouldn't it mean that there would be people who would rather die than do the bidding of the fal'Cie?

Those people should be heroes. The Cocoon l'Cie were all considered heroes. They did the important missions for everyone in the world, and fail or succeed, they gave the entirety of their lives to it.

It was strange to think that from the other side of the glass, it could have been the same way.

So even that night after Mr. Estheim had gotten home, and the two of them got ready for bed (Maqui was staying in the guest room across the hall), he couldn't understand why no one had thought to see things from a different point of view.

_._

_

* * *

_

_._

_"-roger that, base team two. Infiltration was successful and we are moving the hostage now."_

Maqui woke up groggily at the sound of broken glass and shouting, feeling like his limbs were made of sludge. He took several seconds just to open his eyes, forcing himself to see even as his heart-rate picked up at Hope's voice and he attempted to push himself up from bed.

He was groggy... so groggy... what was going on outside? Why couldn't he _move_ right?

Another crash and this time the sound of gunfire and Maqui's brain struggled to wake from the haze it was stuck in. He knew he should be panicking right now, or he should be helping. He should be doing something other than trying to get out of bed, that was for sure.

Just lifting his hand felt like so much work... had he been drugged? What was happening outside? It took a moment, but he managed to push his upper torso up and fall out of the comfort of bed, the stinging pain as his jaw connected with the floor helping to rid the haze in his brain just a little. Something was going on outside. He had heard gunfire, he just knew it. And glass. And-

_Hope!_ Maqui curled his hand into a fist as he pushed himself up from the floor, trying to stand on legs that felt like jelly. He had been drugged! Possibly a gas through the entire house? It meant that there was people in the house that shouldn't be there, and that there was more than likely a struggle outside.

Maqui breathed hard as he got to his feet, and grabbed on to the dresser, groping for the table lamp that he knew was there. He remembered asking Hope about it, since it wasn't the normal type of wall-lights that most people had, and Hope had responded that his mom liked the look of lamps and the extra light provided. Right now, though, the lamp was a solid weight and he curled his fingers around it, lifting the object clumsily and glad that it was cordless.

It took him a moment to stumble to the doorway and brace himself against the touchpad to open the door, and what waited for him outside was pure chaos.

"You let go of my son, you bastards-!" A kick from one of the half dozen soldiers in the living room practically threw the older man across the room, and Bartholomew wheezed as he attempted to shakily get up again.

"What's _with_ the geezer, wasn't that gas supposed to knock him out completely?" Asked what sounded like an older man, voice muffled by the gas mask he was wearing. "This was supposed to just be in and out, grab the kid and go."

"Yeah, I ain't surprised, can't see why you would be, either. We all know that Mr. Estheim's just putting all those ridiculous laws into effect so that his son could live down here in the settlements. Otherwise the disgusting l'Cie would have no place with us!"

"We'll take care of that soon enough, though-"

Maqui had seen and heard enough, and with a stumble and a lift of the lamp, he brought it down as hard as he could against the neck of one of the masked soldiers, hearing a suspicious crack even as it was drowned out by the surprised shouts of others, and he swung blindly as dizziness over took him. From what he could piece together of the night, they had gassed the house and then tried to take Hope, and Bartholomew had woken up and tried to stop them... was he the last one in the house to wake? Was Hope okay? He hadn't heard anything from the other boy since the moment he opened his door...

Pure rage took over him as he felt the lamp collide with another armoured body. Soldiers! These were soldiers in the house trying to take Hope away! And they had _gassed_ him and hurt Mr. Estheim, those damnable cretins-

"Get the boy!"

"Fuck this, you said there were only two people in the house! What's going on?"

"Just shoot him already!"

"The mission is compromised; I repeat, the mission is compromised-"

"Langston's down! We need medical help here immediately, requesting phoenix downs-"

Maqui took another swing even as he heard the close ranged gunfire and coughed as one of the soldiers let loose a smoke bomb, his eyes watering how and vision swimming as he tried to keep them in his range of sight. He was dizzy and disoriented, still struggling for the control of his body through the gas and now through the dimmed vision, but luckily seeing someone in front of him raising a rifle pointed at him... he lifted the lamp and gave another heavy swing, knocking the gun out of the soldier's hands and silently thinking Mrs. Estheim for having such fantastic choice in furniture and decorations.

"Ow! That little shit, he _bit_ me-!"

"Maqui, get out of here! Get help!" Hope's voice was a beckon through the haze and nearly made the older boy drop the lamp in relief. He was okay! For a moment, Maqui had to stop himself from entertaining the thought that they had shot the younger boy to silence him, and that was why Mr. Estheim had been so panicked-

"Hope, where are you?" Maqui shouted, feeling the dizziness fade with the rush of adrenaline. There was no way gas was going to take him out right now, not unless they dosed him again, that is. There was no way that he was letting Hope get taken, not when he was there! He was Team NORA... he was a hero, damn it!

A gloved hand grabbed on to his arm, and Maqui nearly jumped out of his skin and brought the lamp down on the intruder when he saw the pale silver hair as opposed to the intimidating masks the soldiers wore. Hope looked like he had managed to smash his head against against something, and blood matted in his hair even as the younger boy brought a finger up to his lips to indicate silence. His pupils were overblown, nearly drowning out the pale green irises, and for a moment Maqui recalled Gadot lecturing him about concussions.

"We've got to get out of here," Hope whispered frantically. "Do you have a manadrive-?"

Maqui just shook his head, but broke from from the younger teen's grasp to lace his fingers with the other boy's. There was no way he was going to lose him in the smoke, and have him be kidnapped by soldiers. "What about your dad?"

Hope's expression was grim. "It's not him they're after. You need to go and contact Lightning. I'll lead them away."

Maqui tightened his grip on Hope's hand and leaned in furiously. "No way. _No way!_ I'm not letting you go alone, Miss Lightning would skin me alive! No way, man, I'm much more scared of her than of these goons."

Hope looked like he was about to argue when gunshots broke through their vicinity and he thought better of it, tugging hard on Maqui's hand. "This way, then!"

They kept low to the ground, and Hope managed to drag Maqui away from the center of the room without running into any of the cursing soldiers, Maqui trying very hard not to think about that one soldier on the ground with his neck at such an awkward angle. It was doubtful that a phoenix down would be able to save him now that so much time had passed.

Hope tugged again and Maqui stumbled forward as the younger boy leaned in close to whisper into his ear, "We'll have to break through the window and jump."

Jump? There was no way!

"We're twenty stories up, man!" Maqui hissed back. "We'd never make it!"

"Just trust me." The smoke was dissipating already and the room was starting to clear. It was only a matter of seconds before the soldiers would realize where they were again, so Maqui allowed himself to be dragged behind Hope, who made a grab for the lamp Maqui was holding as they passed the hall into the sparse kitchen. The young boy gave the kitchen window a few solid whacks before the glass even started to break, and the shattering sounds no doubt drew the attention of all the soldiers in the living room.

Maqui shielded his eyes from the glass as the night winds started blowing into the house, reminding him of just how high up they were. His grip on Hope's hand tightened impossibly as he stared out into the Pulsian wilderness, and the string of buildings around, none of them as high as where they were standing. Twenty stories... there was no way they would survive a jump like that! At least a kidnapping... there was a chance off survival there!

"Maqui, c'mon!" Hope hissed, tugging ruthlessly at his hand. "If you don't want to jump, you can stay here, but I've got to lead them away!"

No way. He couldn't do it. It was a sure fall to death, and staring down at that abyss of darkness with the wind whipping his hair into his face, Maqui felt himself petrified. He couldn't jump that. Twenty stories... wasn't that two hundred feet? It only took six stories before chances of death, and they were fourteen above that. He heard Hope curse and attempt to let go, but he only clutched on harder the more Hope tried to shake him off.

No! He wasn't going to let Hope jump, either. It was suicide! He grabbed on tighter to the other boy's hand even as Hope's cursing grew louder.

It wasn't until the younger boy's eyes went wide and he screamed at Maqui to look out that Maqui remembered about the danger that had been chasing after them and felt a sharp pain against the back of his head before his vision grew dim and everything... just fell away.

.

* * *

.

Consciousness came back slowly and viciously as he grew more and more aware of pain. His entire body was one giant ache throbbing in time with the pulseworks in his head, and he groaned pathetically against... stone?

This wasn't his bed. And it wasn't Lebreau trying to wake him up...

Maqui kept his eyes tightly closed as he tried to figure out what happened and take stock of all the aches and pains. This wasn't anything like working in the garage for a full day- those aches were pains he was proud of, meaning a hard day's work, but these... these hurt so much more. His head felt so swollen and his arms hurt, and every point of his body pressed against the ground ached and his hand-

"Do you mind letting go now?"

Maqui jerked awake and his eyes flew open as he heard Hope's voice, both soft and somewhat bitter.

The younger teen looked exhausted and dirty, still in his t-shirt and capris, although his scarf was missing and he didn't even have his socks. There was dried blood matted in his hair and he looked vaguely disappointed. It took Maqui nearly a full minute to understand what he meant, seeing as it took that long before his gaze wandered down to their still linked hands.

He attempted to flex his fingers, muscles stiff as blood started to circulate again. Had he really been holding on that tightly? Even with his flexing, it took a while for him it manage to wiggle his fingers, and then came the the struggle of trying to move his hand away from Hope's.

The silver haired boy sighed gratefully as he moved his own hand again, cradling it to his chest and flexing his fingers as well.

"Well, I don't know what you were trying to do, but we're _both_ locked up now."

Maqui winced and sat up slowly, feeling his body scream in relief as he moved himself away from the stone. "What... happened?"

"You wouldn't jump." Hope said sulkily, still flexing his fingers. "And you wouldn't let go, either, so I couldn't draw them away. In the end, the just bagged both of us and dragged us away. Well, they took you because you really refused to let go. Like, they seriously couldn't pry you off. Good job on that."

He couldn't remember it. They must have knocked him out before all of that happened, because the last thing Maqui could remember was the panic as he watched Hope try to jump out a twenty story window, and knowing that if nothing else, he wasn't going to let the younger teen fall to his death.

He looked up at the stone walls and ceiling, to the rusted metal door that was the only change in texture of the room. The place was small, and completely barren with the exception of what looked like a narrow slot on the door.

"Where are we?" He asked dumbly, not understand how they'd gotten there. Was this the work of those kidnapping soldiers? What exactly were they trying to accomplish, anyway? He jerked back to stare at Hope. "You said that they were after you!"

"They were." The boy in question was standing up and stretching, looking smaller than usual without his jacket and capelet. "Dad and I talked about the possibility already. We had guards posted outside. Guess those guys came prepared."

"How do you even sound so casual about this?" Maqui demanded, feeling his panic rising as his brain functions slowly returned to him. He had no idea where they were, what they were up against, and what those soldiers wanted from them!

How was he supposed to be the hero in a situation like that? How was he supposed to keep Hope safe?

"It's not hard to figure out that this was what might happen." Hope explained calmly, stretching to touch his toes. "People don't like l'Cie. They don't like change. Anyone who instigates change is a target for terrorism by itself, but when you've got self-righteous pricks in the equation thinking they could make the world a better place if they dish out the 'just desserts' to people they think are bad? What did you think, that it would be easy to make everyone get along?"

"What? Well, no, of course not!" It was a lie, though. Maqui had always figured that people had more common sense than that. If you need people to work together to survive, surely they'd actually work together, right?

"They just want people to blame." Hope looked a bit sad, and he turned his gaze over to Maqui. "I shouldn't have asked dad to see if you could stay over. I'm really sorry."

Maqui felt his heart skip a beat as he realized it hadn't been Hope's dad who had suggested that, then. Did that mean Hope wanted him around?

"Hey, hey, don't be sorry! We had fun, right? And it's not like something like that happens every day!" Maqui rubbed at the back of his head sheepishly, and then winced at the tenderness he found there. Wow, someone really hadn't liked him to hit him so hard.

"Besides," He added, "You shouldn't not invite people over or have friends just because something like that _can_ potentially happen. I mean... protecting other people is good at all, but I wanted to be there. In fact, I'm glad I'm here, too. So you're not alone."

Hope had an indescribable expression for a moment, and then he dropped into a crouch in front of Maqui, reaching out. "How's your head?"

"Feels like crap," Maqui said honestly, and leaned in as he felt fingers along the back of his hair line, and then the faint warmth of a healing spell.

Hope just smiled and said, "I can't do much... no one's supposed to know, remember?"

It took the older teen a moment to get that, but when he did, he nodded. No one was supposed to know that Hope had magic, so he couldn't heal the wound completely. That would definitely raise a few questions if they were ever interrogated by their captors. It was probably also the reason why the entire garrison of soldiers weren't dead and twitching at their feet when they went in to kidnap Hope in the first place.

Which reminded him...

"Is your dad alright?" Maqui asked, even as he basked in the warmth of Hope's healing, feeling the magic seep into his bones, very slowly dampening the pain and stop the bleeding even as they didn't close any wounds.

"He'll be fine. He knows what to do in an event like this. Like I said, we've discussed it before." Hope pulled away when Maqui finally relaxed, his aches and pains gone even as his wounds throbbed dully. "He'll know what to do."

"Know what to do as in he'll know where we are?"

Hope just shook his head. "No. Light'll know, though."

Maqui frowned, "I'm sorry for not calling her."

"No, don't worry about it." Hope sat down with his legs crossed. "You didn't have to, anyway. I just didn't want you involved in this whole mess. She'll know where we are."

"What do you mean?" He rubbed tentatively at the back of his head again, and this time it barely triggered a dull ache rather than the sharp pain he had experienced before. It was actually a good job considering that that Hope was trying to cover for the fact that he could heal the wounds.

The younger boy was quiet for a moment. "Nothing. But she always knows, right? She'll get to us, don't worry."

That sounded oddly familiar, like what Yuj had said to him before.

"That doesn't make any sense," Maqui grumbled. "I don't get it at all- first you predicted getting kidnapped, now Miss Lightning already knows where we are when I don't know yet? I mean, do you even know where we are?"

Hope shook his head. "I don't have to."

"Shouldn't you be sounding more worried about this? I mean, you knew that these freaks would come for you, and that they were looking for you instead of your dad, and now we're locked up in some cell like... like some kind of criminal or wild animal!" Agitated, Maqui tested the strength of his legs before getting up, watching as Hope followed him in gaze although the other boy continued to sit.

Taking a shaky step, Maqui assessed his own situation- generic pajamas that had been provided to him, and no shoes. Great. Last time it had been no weapons, and this time it was no weapons _and_ no shoes. What was he supposed to do in a situation like this? He didn't want to wait to be rescued!

"I _am_ worried." Despite the words, Hope only looked tired. "But there's not exactly anything either of us could do right now."

"You can." Maqui crouched in front of the other boy, keeping eye contact. He itched to reach out to Hope, seeing the other look so defeated, but refrained from doing so. "I mean, you're never hopeless."

Hope scrunched up his nose. "Oh, thanks. Haha. That was a funny pun, wasn't it?"

"No, really, I mean it." Hope had his magic, and he was bright. Maqui knew this. What he didn't understand was why the other boy would want to hide that fact. Why would be pretend to be _normal_ when he wasn't? From what Maqui had been able to gather the past few weeks, Hope was amazing.

He wanted to tell Hope that the boy was aptly named, and that Maqui would find a way out of this situation if nothing else, and that there was really nothing to worry about. Even if he wasn't feeling that. He was certain that there was a lot to worry about, and things really were beyond his control, but...

He was a part of Team NORA. Even if he wasn't exactly a hero, he definitely had to be hero in training. Why was he feeling so doubtful of himself? It didn't matter if the situation was bad! He would find a way out of it, and he'd definitely protect Hope this time. He wouldn't leave himself to wait to be rescued.

But Hope was right... what _could_ he do at the moment without knowing anything?

"Hey, how long have we been here for?"

Hope huffed slightly at the question, and blew a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Don't know. A few hours? Can't exactly figure out what time of day it is since there's no daylight here. But I'm not really hungry, so it can't be that long."

Maqui made a noise in agreement. He wasn't particularly hungry yet, either, since they had the pizza right before bed, and he was used to being hungry every few hours. Still, he stood up and went straight to the door, pressing a hand against the rusted metal and giving a test push. It was as solid as it looked, as if it wasn't rusted over at all. He knelt down a bit to attempt to peer out of the slot, but seeing nothing more than stone corridors beyond the door.

"I tried looking already," Hope said. "All I know is that we're underground. They carried us down stairs. Don't know how far down, though."

"Carried us?" Damn it, he couldn't see very far at all through that stupid slot.

"Yeah- I meant it when I said they bagged us. Like, they literally put a bag over our heads after they tried to separate us. Crude, but I guess it was effective."

"Why were they after you, anyway?" Maqui grumbled. Hope was still a kid- he remembered being fourteen all too well, and remembered how much it had sucked back then.

"Because my dad's important. Because I was a l'Cie. Because they blame me for Cocoon dying." Hope just shrugged. "Because they hate me, and I guess I'm the weak link in the group of l'Cie outside of Dahj."

Oh. _Dahj._ Maqui panicked at the thought of the little boy locked up in a cell just like theirs. "Do you think they got him, too?"

The younger boy just shook his head. "No. He was a Cocoon l'Cie. A hero to them all. They would never think about doing anything to him. If anything, he'd be well-protected, and they might target Sazh if they thought he was in any way a danger to Dahj"

Maqui was quiet for a moment, staring at the silver hared boy. "How do you even know all of that?"

The teen shrugged. "I told you. I've talked about it with my dad before."

"What, are they some group of known terrorists, then? Out to get former l'Cie and... just some sort of hate group?" He had half a mind to kick something before realizing he didn't have any shoes on and the stones hurt his bare feet already. "How come we've never heard of them?"

"Because they weren't a group. They were... just about everyone."

Everyone? Maqui paddled back toward Hope when he saw the boy's downcast expression.

"Not everyone hates you, you know." He didn't. But how could he say that without sounding like a creeper the same way Yuj had warned him about? "I don't. I think you're amazing."

Hope flushed, which only made Maqui grin. He must have said it right, then.

"We should look for a way out. Although, I'd like to hear more about why you think you need to be prepared for kidnappers and stuff later. Just not here in this cell. Not where they can hear us or whatever. Think you have a plan to get us out that doesn't include us being rescued?"

Hope stared for a moment, but then gave a slow nod. "I might. I kind of remembered the way they carried us, so there should remember the way to get out. But I can't use... well. Do you think you could find a manadrive?"

Where would he get a manadrive in a situation like this? Those things were rare and only military-issued, with extensive warrants before you could get one. "Maybe if one of the soldiers was carrying one." He answered dubiously.

"They were," Hope confirmed. "We'll just... need to find out of them, then. Think someone will come if make a lot of noise?"

"We could try. I bet they're like everyone else in the world."

"What do you mean?"

Maqui grinned. "I bet they _hate_ teenagers!"

.

* * *

.

Maqui had to give the soldiers credit for their tenacity. It took nearly two hours of general shouting, havoc, and finally a staged fight between the two of them before someone was finally sent to break them apart from the yelling and shouting and general shoves at each other.

"You fucking brats!" Came the shout down the hallway as Maqui hit the stone wall from where Hope had shoved him when they were tossing insults about each other and general elementary grade curses. Thinking about it, it was actually quite hilarious, whatever names they could come up with for each other. It just got more and more colorful and creative.

There was the sound of ringing keys and the beep of what must have been a mechanical keypad before the door was opened and an armoured soldier stood there with a gun pointed at them.

"Break it up, you fucking geeks! What the fuck, we put you together out of the kindness of our hearts and you go and start fightin' with each other?" The masked soldier jerked the rifle off to the side to indicate the both of them to step away from each other. "Each of ya at a corner! Get to it now!"

Maqui raised his hands and backed away slowly, keeping his eye on the soldier even as he watched Hope as well and made sure the other boy was doing the same. Drawing the soldier in was the easy part... this was where their plan got a little messy.

"Hey, why'd you take us, anyway?" Hope demanded, adopting a more irritating whine to his voice close to his age. "What do you want with us, huh? Dad won't let you get away with this!"

"Oh, like your dad can do anything!" Maqui snapped back, although there was an apology in his expression. It was a good thing that the soldier was more focused on Hope at that moment. "Get real! It's probably all his fault that we're here in the first place! He wanted to be some big-shot politician, right? I shouldn't have stayed over at your place, man!"

"You take that back-!" Hope lunged for him, and Maqui met him half way, making sure their scuffle took them even closer to the soldier.

"Fuck! I said break it up, boys-!"

Half a second, and Maqui whirled around to punch the soldier in his masked face, cursing as he felt the skin on his knuckles give way, but it didn't stop him from taking another shot even as Hope grabbed for the rifle and Maqui could feel the heat of magic as the other boy froze the weapon over as subtly as possible, jamming whatever gears were needed to make the weapon work.

"Grab his manadrive!" Hope shouted at Maqui, jerking his chin toward the device on the man's waist, and Maqui obliged even as the soldier sputtered curses at them. It was harder than he had anticipated, though, and he got an elbow to his ribs for his trouble. He nearly let go if not for the yelp of pain that escaped Hope, and then he just held on tighter, and grabbed for the frozen over rifle first.

It was a brief struggle for the weapon seeing as Hope was still holding it as well, and with the soldier trying to shoot them now, but a good few seconds of two teenage boys struggling harshly against even an armored soldier, and the rifle finally gave, and Maqui took that opportunity to take the frozen rifle and draw back as far as he could before swinging it around and whacking the soldier as hard as possible over the head.

A shouted curse, and the soldier went down, not yet unconscious, but definitely in pain. Another heavy hit from Maqui, and the man stumbled onto the ground, grabbing onto his helmet. Hope cringed back as the man attempted to grab at him with bloody hands, and Maqui practically saw red before swinging the rifle again, remembering how even bones had given the last time he swung an object like that (the table lamp just hours ago).

"Maqui, stop!" Hope grabbed onto his arm in mid-swing, and Maqui's head jerked sharply to stare at the younger teen, who looked almost scared and still had the dried blood matted in his hair. His tone was strangely soothing, as if trying to placate a wild animal. "Stop. Please. We just need his manadrive." Hope's fingers slowly pried Maqui's grip from the frozen gun. "We don't need this. Come on. He's down already. Any more and you'll kill him. And I don't think you want to do that."

He stared at the other boy for a minute, taking in the pale skin that looked even paler with the specks of blood, and the widely dilated eyes. He had barely ever been that close to the other boy before; had never noticed the spatter of freckles over his skin, a bit dark on the bottom left of his face. It was all pale enough that it was barely noticeable, though.

"Come on." Hope managed to take the rifle away from him and drop it on the floor. "We need to go. _Now_. They've definitely heard that and are sending reinforcements now. Maqui. We've got to _go._"

Maqui nodded dumbly for a moment, and the spared a glance at the downed soldier, who looked knocked unconscious with his helmet cracked and blood seeping out. He could feel his hands shaking slightly because, oh man, what had he just done? Was the man alive at all? He knew he had killed someone the night before trying to protect Hope, but that had been trying to protect someone, and he'd done that before, but this time, the plan hadn't called for that much violence and-

Hope was crouched down unstrapping the manadrive from the man's waist, and then handing it over to Maqui, fingers quick and nimble as he tied it around Maqui's waist.

"I don't know how to use this," Maqui mumbled quietly down to the other boy.

"Don't worry," Hope whispered frantically. "All you have to do is look like you know how to use it. I'll provide the magic. I need you to lead, though. Make it look like you're doing the attacking."

"You sure about this?" Maqui mumbled.

Hope took one last moment to tighten the strap before looking up and giving a determined nod.

"All right," Maqui said, this time in a normal tone if not a little louder than how he usually talked. "Let's get out of here, okay? I'll keep you safe, don't worry!"

It was something he had always meant to say, and he took a little pride in the words, even if he knew that it was Hope who would be the one really doing the fighting. Still, for the safe of appearances, Hope nodded a bit meekly and grabbed onto Maqui's shirt, walking behind him even as Maqui stepped over the downed soldier and into the stone halls.

"Which way?" He asked, feeling a little panicked as both sides looked the same to him.

Hope pointed left. "That's where they came from. Then a right turn. There should be stairs there."

"Think they'll be coming down?"

There was a nod from the other boy. "They'll have to bottleneck down the stairs, though. We can pick them off there. Just need to make sure that we take everyone out or else they'd be able to surround us."

"Okay. We'll do this carefully, then." Maqui made sure to cover Hope's hand on his shirt with his own, and then lace their fingers together again. They had managed to stay together like this before, they'd definitely be able to stay together again on the way out. Together, there was no way a bunch of soldiers would be able to take them out. "I think I'd rather you take up the gun, though."

"I don't know how to shoot," Hope admitted quietly. "And I'm not supposed to. Dad's been trying to promote non-violent ways and stuff. Technically I'm not allowed to touch guns or even manadrives."

It was understandable, in the same way that Hope had tried to explain why he couldn't take self-defense classes. But still, the image was choppy in Maqui's head and he wanted a better clarity of it later. But not now. Now, it was better to focus on their escape and making sure nothing happened to Hope.

"Just keep to the corners," Hope whispered. "Don't worry. I'll make sure everything's okay."

It wasn't long before the came to the corner, and the shouts of soldiers came filtering down the hallway. The boys looked at each other before Hope gave a nod and the both of them leaned out slightly to see what was coming. It took a moment for Hope to summon a _Blizzara_ and freeze over the floors, nudging at Maqui to make it at least look like he was casting something.

How would he cast magic? Only the best soldiers were allowed manadrives, and even then, it took years to train them in the usage of the technologically supplied magic. At best, Maqui just waved a hand uncomfortably, hoping no one would notice that he wasn't really the one casting the magic.

"Now we wait," Hope whispered for him, and Maqui nodded.

It only took a moment before a flood of soldiers came down the stairs, the first few slipping and almost falling on the slick ice before they regained their footing and called out to their comrades to be careful. Hope nudged Maqui again, and the older boy again waved his arm, feeling like a fool even as he watched Hope cast a _waterga_ and listened as the soldiers cursed and splash in the water before Hope gave him another nudge and then took a moment to gather his magic for a _thudarra_.

"Don't go anywhere close to the water." Was the only warning Hope gave him before all the soldiers trapped in the water started screaming with the pain of being electrocuted to death. A few more whispered spells, and Maqui could barely manage to look on in shock as an entire troop of soldiers slowly electrocuted to death, the smell of cooked flesh and clothing slowly wafting his way.

"Alright, done." Hope whispered. "Water will be safe now."

"Yeah, unless someone else decides to pull something like you just did," Maqui whispered back harshly, but Hope only scoffed lightly.

"I can heal us faster than that can do damage." He whispered, although that didn't make Maqui feel any more at ease. "Come _on_. They'll just keep sending more people. And I'd rather not have to hurt anyone else."

That was a way of putting it that made Maqui wade through the ankle deep water, slipping slightly on the first few steps into the melting ice. He shivered as his pajamas pants started to soak through, and pulled hard on Hope's hand as he felt the other boy slip as well and brace himself against the ice with his free hand. He could feel the younger teen's shivers through their connected hands even as he attempted to weave a path that would keep them from brushing against the corpses in the water.

He didn't want Hope to have to fight any more than he had to, either. Fourteen wasn't an age to understand how to deal death and manage to guilt of killing another human being. Hell, _seventeen_ wasn't an age where he wanted to understand death. He knew that the other boy already had to deal with a bunch of that crap already from the journey he had taken as a l'Cie (and from when the entirety of the Sanctum had been hunting him down) but it was over and this was supposed to be a time of peace.

His grip on Hope's hand tightened for just a second as the thought ran through his head. It had only been three weeks ago that he understood why he wanted so badly to protect the other boy, but the revelation didn't change the aversion he had to the idea of Hope in danger... in fact, if anything, it only made the aversion stronger. He didn't want to see the other boy in a situation that resulted in death or even danger, even if he knew that he couldn't prevent Hope from being in such a situation considering his status and life.

A few more splashes through the water and they were racing up the rickety stairs, feet freezing from lack of shoes and the ice underneath. Maqui could feel his clothes soak through with freezing water as Hope grabbed onto his sleeve with his free hand, stumbling as they tried to stay together and run at the same time.

"Think we can take on whoever orchestrated this plan?" Maqui asked as the reached the door upstairs. He had a hand on the old fashioned keypad, looking to Hope to see if the other boy was ready.

With a quiet wave, there was a near invisible shield in front of each of them, and Hope nodded. "As long as you know what you're doing with that manadrive."

"Know more than you and guns, seeing as you just dropped that one," Maqui shot back, completely aware that someone could be watching them at that very moment. It was a good thing he had seen soldiers use manadrives before, but he was having a hard time imitating their actions. He didn't know the difference for each spell, and with l'Cie, well, all they had to do was think of what they wanted and the spell was effective. So getting tips from Hope was out of the question.

"Let's just get out of here before-" Hope's words were drowned out by the sounds of gunfire, and he cried out as bullet holes appeared through the weak door, and Maqui reacted immediately to draw the other boy close and crouching down, biting down hard on his lip to stifle his cry of pain as he felt bullets rip through his right shoulder and side.

"Maqui!" He could feel Hope's panicked shout reverberate through his ears even as he felt the younger boy's hands over the wounds and the warmth of healing magic. It was a sharp relief to the pain, but he only allowed it for a few moments before he reached to pull the other teen's hand away.

"Can't." He hissed out, almost feeling tears in his eyes. It _hurt_, damn it, more than he would ever have expected. "They're watching, remember?"

And most manadrives didn't include cures spells. It was something to do with the type of energy necessary for healing human beings being extremely delicate, but Maqui was extremely doubtful that there would have been cures on this manadrive. It was suspicious enough that Hope was using certain elemental spells... neither of them knew what the machinery provided, and for all they knew, the only thing that specific manadrive was capable of was something akin to _sparkstrike_.

Hope looked panicked. "What if that hit something important? I think that's more important than what I said earlier!"

Maqui just shook his head. He wasn't going to ruin Hope's cover. He had little doubt that Hope could escape by himself had it not been for his need to conceal his magic abilities. He had seen the other boy in action that time three weeks ago, and the sight had been.. awe-inspiring, to say the least. The magic that l'Cie possessed far outstripped anything that manadrives could provide. As it was already, he had whispered to Hope that he had to keep his magic low and not as powerful.

He wasn't going to ruin anything. There was no way he'd put Hope in danger, even if it was just his secret. He was a _hero_.

And damned if he didn't feel like a big, stupid hero right at that moment with the pain in his side and shoulder, but filled with pride knowing that Hope was alive at the moment thanks to him, if not-

"Wait, were you hit?" Maqui asked, voice panicked even as he realized his question was redundant. The younger boy was bleeding profusely from his left arm, but he didn't look too bothered by it. Suddenly, he didn't feel that much of a hero anymore if Hope was holding against the pain better than he was.

"It was a clean shot." Hope gave him a meaningful look to explain that he had already healed the majority of it. "Don't worry about it."

"Well, now we know they're armed and waiting for us." Maqui grumbled, even as Hope tore at the bottom of his pajama shirt to wrap his torso wound. It would be easier to heal if it was hidden under bandages, but if they were going to keep up pretenses, then Hope would only be able to heal any life threatening internal injuries... everything on the outside had to be kept as is to keep it realistic.

"More than just armed." Hope grumbled quietly under his breath, voice too low for any eavesdropping cameras to pick up. "That went through my _shields_. That means there were a lot more bullets that _didn't_. This is more than a few guns out there. I wouldn't be surprised to have them greet us with half a dozen gattling turrets."

Well, shit. He doubted even Hope's magic could heal them from being ripped apart by bullets.

"How are we supposed to get out, then?" Maqui whispered back, tone slightly hysterical. This wasn't going according to his plans... unlike Snow, he didn't exactly have the constitution to keep Hope safe from all the bullets.

Hope didn't answer for a moment, looking deep in thought. "They've got field advantage. And weapons as well as their own manadrives. We've got the disadvantage of position, knowledge... well, just about everything." He frowned. "We'd just need to get through the room, but we don't know how big the room is, how many enemies, or where exits would even be. The only thing we have on our side is the idea that they might not be shooting to kill."

"Idea? Hey, wait, that's not good enough! They already shot us!"

"Yeah, that's the flaw in my plan." Hope said, and then jerked Maqui behind him, the older boy fumbling slightly at the change in pace. "But why bother to capture us if they wanted us dead? They lost two men last night, so it can't just be because we can take out some of their troops. They'd want us alive for a reason, so they wouldn't want to change that fact right now. Which means..." Hope pursed his lips. "Damn it. Even if we grabbed the guns off the people downstairs..."

They'd still be outnumbered in firepower. And Hope wasn't allowed to carry weapons and while he wouldn't mind a gun himself, it would be hard for him to shoot and pretend to work the manadrive as well. Which made them... pretty much screwed.

Two choices, then. Stay there, or charge into the situation blind. Maqui already knew which choice Snow would have picked.

"I say we charge through the doors." Maqui whispered. "We won't know what we're facing until we do."

Hope yanked him back. "Yeah, and we'd be _dead_ before we could take anyone down! That's not funny, Maqui, even Snow's not dumb enough to charge against gattling guns!"

"Don't worry-" Maqui tried to reassure him with a grin. "I'll keep you safe, okay?"

Seeing as Hope was about to protest, and with the adrenaline pumping through his veins knowing that he was about to pull something _truly suicidal_, but he was a hero and there was no way that he would die especially if it meant leaving Hope on his own because before anything else, Maqui was going to get Hope out of this safely... he hadn't managed to do it three weeks ago when they had crashed, but by the Maker, he was going to do it this time.

With the excitement (terror?) or certain doom rushing through him, Maqui leaned down for just a moment, hands still clasped against the other boy's, to kiss Hope on the lips. He felt as the younger boy froze up, and pulled back with a grin, barely able to feel the contact. It was a spur of the moment thing... if something bad really did happen? At least he could say he had kissed Hope.

"I'll keep you safe." Maqui repeated, utterly convinced that he would do just that, and reached out for the keypad to open the door.

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Part 2/3

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**AN:** One more part to go for this story. XD;; I've started on the next one, but that one is going... well, _really_ slow and with Episode 1 out, I had to rewrite a lot of what I had already written, which I usually hate doing since I like writing on the fly. But hey, new project for the new year!

I hope everyone had a fantastic holiday and I'll have the last chapter of this out by the new year~


	3. Chapter 3

**Derivation**

_n. 1; The source from which something is derived; origin. 2; Something that is or has been derived; derivative. 3; Development of a theorem. _

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The first thing he saw when he woke was the bright sunlight outside the window, and the sky beyond it, filled with rolling clouds that looked like an oncoming storm. It was a beautiful day on Pulse, then, and it was going to be a wet, muddy night. Everyone would probably be staying inside.

Maqui blinked, feeling fuzzy even as sounds slowly filtered back to him, from the vague buzzing of electricity to the humming of machines. He was in a room. A white, sterile smelling room with machinery everywhere. This wasn't his room. This wasn't even the garage, since the garage was never that clean and he would never have painted it white. What was just asking for dirt and grease everywhere.

It took some effort to turn his neck from the window, but it was worth it when he realized he was in a hospital room. But... why would he be somewhere like that? The beds there were always uncomfortable, and they had crap food. He always avoided hospitals, since he loved whining to Lebreau over all his injuries. If he was annoying enough, there was a good chance of getting out of his chores, even if she was really bad at bandaging up whatever cuts and bruises he managed to get.

He squinted as he tried to recall why he'd be in a hospital. Was he injured? He didn't feel injured. He felt just fine, if not a little slow in his senses and very warm. Like being covered in molasses. He could barely move his hand.

Moving his head toward the other side proved to reveal more information when he saw Snow snoozing in a chair next to his bed, boots up on the bedside table and a face down book in his lap. If Snow was there, it had to be a big deal. Snow hadn't left Serah's side practically ever since the whole deal with Cocoon falling came through, and where-ever he went, sweet Serah would always be beside him.

It must have been early, then. Early morning? The sun always did like to shine the brightest in the morning, Maqui had found. And being under direct sunlight just meant sunburns, so he hoped that the architects were smart enough to at least equip the hospitals with UV proof glass. It was a new concept considering they had never had to do anything like that with daylight back on Cocoon, but the light on Gran Pulse was different. Heavier. Less forgiving.

Maqui frowned a bit at Snow's presence, and then focused to visually explore the rest of the room. The bedside table with flowers on it (lots of them, he thought in surprise. He expected nothing, actually, since none of Team NORA would have sent him flowers. They would have stayed with him and gave him food and encouragement, but not _flowers_) and cards as well. The room was large... bigger than the average hospital room, and Maqui could locate another bed closer to the door on Snow's other side. A double room, then.

He shifted in his bed trying to see who was there roomed with him, craning his neck slightly even as he struggled to sit up with little success. His movements must have been loud enough to alert Snow, though, seeing as the older man yawned and sat up with a stretch, the book he had falling onto the floor with a dulled plop even as his eyes squinted open and then widened when he saw Maqui staring.

"You awake, then?" Snow asked with a grin, although he still looked somewhat sleepy. But he didn't look mad, or even too worried, which made Maqui relax. That usually meant he wasn't in too much trouble. Good. He must not have blown up the garage, then. "That was a wild stunt you pulled there, squirt."

"What stunt?" Maqui asked, although his words came out more gibberish than anything else. Huh. His throat must have been numb, then. They must have drugged him better than he thought. Even with his brain waking up, he wasn't feeling any physical pain.

But the question in his tone must have gotten through, because Snow just kept that grin. The bigger man pulled a finger to his lips in a meaningful gesture of keeping their voices down before he scooted the chair closer to Maqui's bed, completely disregarding his previous actions as the metal of the chair scraped loudly against the linoleum floors.

"You're a real hero, kiddo," Snow said, reaching to ruffle at Maqui's blond hair. "It's all over the holo-vids and news. 'Teenage hero saves politician's kidnapped son!'"

What? When had he done something like that? Maqui wasn't that much of a hero. Sure, he was a hero on the basis that he was part of Team NORA, but... the others were the ones who charged into situations, not him. He liked to linger behind until he was needed, watching everyone's backs. One of the reasons was due to his dislike of hospitals. Was that why he was in a hospital right now?

"But more than that," Snow continued to say, although his tone dipped from excited to fond. "I'm real proud of you."

Proud? "What did I do?" Maqui croaked out, unsure of his own memories. What could possibly have make him rush out and injure himself in order to save some kidnapped kid?

Snow just nodded toward the other bed, and Maqui reluctantly pushed himself up into a sitting position in the hospital bed, feeling his arms shake with his own upper body weight. Those must have been some drugs. He leaned up against the headboard, peering over at the other bed only to realize that it was empty, although unmade and somewhat messy.

Was it the kid he had rescued? His brain was still a little fuzzy on the details. How would he even have been at the right place at the right time, anyway?

"Hey, squirt, you still with me? Or do you need a few minutes to find your brain?" Snow joked.

"With ya," Maqui muttered, although he wouldn't have minded a few minutes. As much as he liked the idea of being a hero, it wasn't exactly something he'd do to get him landed in a hospital for. It must have been someone he knew. Or a kitten. Maybe a kitten. But a kitten wouldn't have been a politician's son, would it?

"Just to warn you, though," Snow lowered his voice conspiratorially. "He doesn't take likely to heroics. So there might be some yelling. But if you get it over with right now, if he's been learning from Sis like he has, then he'll take it easy on your since you're still in the hospital bed."

"Oh, yeah? And where is he?" Maqui asked, brain still on that vacation. He could feel it coming back, though. Just not very quickly. Maybe on an old airbike. Or riding a chocobo through the dreamscape of his mind. It was coming back... just slowly.

"Out getting breakfast with Sis and Serah." Snow had the widest grin ever. "Hospital food's a bunch of crap and goo. Serah claimed it wasn't fit for a growing boy."

Someone who went out to get breakfast with Serah and Lightning? Serah he could understand, since she was so wonderfully sweet and awesome and kind, but-

And there. His thoughts. They were back.

He had... rescued Hope? From the kidnappers?

He had rescued Hope! He'd rescued _Hope_! Fuck, yeah! He was a _big, damned hero_!

Maqui could feel his excitement level rise even as his memories returned to him. He still couldn't remember how they had gotten out, but he could remember the night previous now- the kidnappers and the gas and waking up in that stupid cell and the plan that Hope had formulated. How they had gotten out, past the soldiers, up the stairs, and... how had that ended?

But what the hell, right? He had rescued Hope! It was the one thing he had wanted to do the entire time, because he was a member of Team NORA and he was a damned _hero_ and the last time when Hope had gotten him out of the situation at Sulyya Springs had been embarrassing, and he was so proud of himself and proud of the fact that he had made Snow proud at him that Maqui felt like he could almost burst at the seams, he was so happy.

It was like a hundred birthdays at once, that was how it felt like to him. And the kiss had only been the icing on the cake.

Wait a minute.

Kiss?

All of a sudden, his good cheer all flew out the window.

He had kissed Hope! Right before he opened the door, he had... well, he thought he was going to die, and he wasn't sure how he'd be able to get out of that situation, so it was understandable, right? He could explain it off as a 'I thought I was going to die' kind of thing, right? He had worked so hard just to be Hope's friend... he didn't want to ruin that friendship because of that one kiss! (One that he didn't quite remember, either. What a disappointment. He should have taken that extra minute to make it more memorable.)

He scrambled around in his bed, hoping he could pretend to be asleep again by the time Hope came back, or maybe even just... jump out the window or something. Jumping out the window now sounded good; even better than it had the previous night with soldiers coming to get them.

By all that was good and right, what if Hope had told Miss Lightning?

He was going to be skinned alive. Flame boiled over a pot of grease. Chopped into a thousand little bits and pieces.

That's it. Didn't matter if he was on the twentieth story and completely doped up on drugs and could barely move his body out of the hospital bed... jumping out the window was definitely a better option than staying and dying by the hand of Lightning Farron. He was sure she's get super creative when she found out what he had done.

Snow must have noticed his panic then. "What's the rush? They won't be back for... man, how long have I been asleep? Maybe another ten minutes or so? I know you want to look presentable and all, but trust me, that war-torn look is all the rage. Makes you look pitiable so people will fawn over you."

"I stayed over at Hope's house," Maqui muttered, although he knew that Snow could hear it. "And he still got kidnapped... Miss Lightning'll _kill_ me."

Snow just laughed, loud and hearty, even as he reached over to pat Maqui on his uninjured shoulder. "Kid, don't worry about it! You got him out all in one piece. If I could say anything about it... I'd say that she's pretty damned impressed. It didn't hurt that she didn't have very high expectations for you in the first place."

By now, Maqui was calming down, although whether it was because of Snow's reassurances or because the brief adrenaline rush was finally fading from his system, he couldn't figure it out. Probably a combination of both. Probably even because his body was finally starting to remind him that it was tired and injured, and movement around really wasn't the best idea because he was in a hospital and really, there had to be a reason the drugs were making him all fuzzy and slow. And the reason probably had to do with the fact that he felt no pain at the moment.

"I don't remember what happened," Maqui admitted reluctantly even as Snow stood up to stretch awkwardly. The hospital chairs must have been extremely uncomfortable to fall asleep on, especially for anyone of Snow's size. That he was willing to sit in them long enough to fall asleep really must have said something about his injuries or what happened.

Snow was quiet for a moment, and cracked his neck before sitting again, although this time his posture wasn't as slouched, and he picked up the book to place it on the bedside table, shoving a bit at the flowers to make some room. Maqui followed with his line of sight, wondering at all the bright and colorful flowers there as well. It must have been for Hope, then, if the other boy was in the same room as him.

"It's probably better if your memory stays that way." Snow admitted, and this time his tone was serious. "That way you can truthfully say that when someone asks you. And someone's definitely going to ask."

"Why?" Maqui asked. "I get the people asking part," because Hope was a big shot politician's son now. It was one thing that had gone on in Maqui's head in the two hours they had spent making a ruckus to make someone notice them in the cell. Hope was in the limelight now, and that meant more dangers. It was what Yuj had been hinting at when Maqui had tried to go pick Hope up from school- there was no way that would be possible unless someone knew ahead of time and had approved it. "But I want to know what happened."

Still. There was something he had been meaning to ask- something on his mind ever since they had first crashed in Sulyya Springs and had been rescued not an hour or so later. And what Hope had said about others just... knowing where he would be.

"Did you know where we were?" He asked Snow, feeling as though he might not want to know.

The big blond rubbed the back of his head for a moment, looking somewhat weary. "Yeah, kid. We knew where you were."

"How?" Even he hadn't known where they were, and he knew that Hope had been unsure as well, only knowing that they were underground. But the silver haired boy had sounded so sure that the others would know exactly where they were...

Snow just shrugged, looking somewhat uncomfortable. "Don't know if I can explain it, Maqui. So I generally don't ask questions about it."

But Maqui was asking. It had been the same thing last time, hadn't it? When they had known immediately where they were, and when they were in danger. Although this time... this time they had taken far longer, seeing as the two of them must have been down in that cell for a good five hours at least.

"How come you didn't come get us earlier, then?" Maqui asked, not sure himself if there was an accusation in his voice. He didn't know what happened after he opened that door, but he knew it was something that had landed him in the hospital. And he knew that Hope hadn't wanted to kill that troop of soldiers down by the stairs. They were still kids, weren't they? They shouldn't have been doing stuff like this- Maqui would do it if it meant it would protect other people, and especially Hope or the rest of Team NORA, but it didn't mean that he figured it was a necessary evil. He hadn't wanted to see Hope twirl magic around his fingers and kill people.

But, if he admitted it to himself, what had scared him the most in those moments when Hope had asked him to imitate the motions of a manadrive while he got rid of the soldiers... had to be the fact that the younger boy hadn't looked twice at the corpses floating in the water afterward. That he had stepped over them gracefully and without fail while Maqui had felt queasy to his stomach at the stench of nearly cooked human meat.

And it was like another moment of revelations, knowing that Hope was cold enough that he didn't look back at the carnage at all.

"Look, kid," Snow looked as tired as ever. "Truth of the matter? We knew the general vicinity where you guys were at. But we hadn't expected underground. It was like something was blocking a signal or something, okay? We didn't notice where you guys were being held until we heard the gunshots, and then it just... took a few minutes for us to bust our way in through the guards."

Signal? What was going _on_? So they just... somehow they all knew where each of them were at all times?

...Did he really want to know, though? Especially right now?

Maqui wanted to sigh, but figured that would sound insulting after Snow had been so sincere in his statements. He'd leave the matter alone for now, no matter how much he felt like prying. The idea was that someone would tell him in due time, right? He trusted Snow. He trusted the older man _a lot_. No matter what, Snow would know when the right time was to tell Maqui.

"So what happened when you found us?" He asked instead.

"You took out the entire room, kid." The look Snow gave him, however, indicated otherwise, and then Maqui realized that Snow knew about the magic thing. He knew that Maqui knew, and wasn't going to say anything. He meant that Hope had taken out the entire room, but wasn't going to say it. "Firestorm that burnt everything to a crisp, including your own manadrive. Guess that thing wasn't built to last, or just couldn't handle the heat. Good job, by the way, with the troops downstairs. That was good thinking."

"Did any of the ones downstairs survive?" It was a question that he wished he could take back the moment he asked it.

Snow just shook his head. "If it helps, none of them died from the electricity. But they all drowned while unconscious."

What? Maqui startled. The water had been... just ankle deep and flowing away even as they had been stepping up the stairs. Surely no one could have drowned from that...? But then he remembered how the soldiers had been face down when they walked around the bodies, and masked as well. It was more than easy enough to believe that the water had soaked into their masks and they had drowned that way.

But did that mean... they had been alive when the two of them had walked past? And that those lives could have been saved if they had only taken the time to flip those soldiers over so they were face down in the water?

Maqui felt queasy.

"Don't feel guilty." Snow told him firmly as he saw Maqui's telling expression. "They knew what they were signing up for. And if they knew they were actively kidnapping children for bribery and ransom, then they deserve whatever was coming to them."

The taller man clapped him on the shoulder once again, and then ruffled his hair. "You did good. They would have killed you otherwise."

Maqui nodded numbly, even as he remembered what Hope had said about the soldiers wanting them alive. Could it have been that it would have been easier if they had stayed in the cell and just waited for the others to get them. Snow didn't look injured, and he doubted that Sergant Farron would be injured, either. The only ones hurt had been him and Hope... so what if he hadn't played the hero card? Maybe if he had just suggested their stay in their cells and wait, then neither of them would have been injured in the process, either.

Great. Now he wasn't a hero, but the reason that Hope had been hurt.

And he was _still_ screwed if Lightning ever found out that he kissed Hope.

"How're you feelin', anyway?" Snow asked, and then indicated the bedside table. "You've got plenty of well wishers, kid. Man, if flowers and cards could really help heal someone, I'd have to say you're better than a hundred percent already."

"What, those are for me?" Maqui exclaimed, staring at the table filled to the brim with colorful flowers.

Snow laughed again. "Well, who else did you think they were for, huh?"

Maqui shrugged a bit awkwardly, but still grinned. "I don't know. Figured they'd be for Hope or something, from his classmates."

"They're for the both of you." Snow stated with a grin. "Big old sob story covered on the news about some new age terrorists kidnapping and attacking innocent children. They interviewed Bartholomew and everything- then they had to censor out half his words since he was cussing up a storm about his son being a target and how this was potentially enough to have him withdrawal from the political scene." He shrugged. "That pretty much sparked another uproar and eventually word got out that you guys were attacked in your sleep and the soldiers were going to experiment on Hope before killing him, and how you managed to get the both of you guys out of there..."

Snow just gave him a thumbs up. "Touching story, man!"

"News? Interviews?" Maqui's mind whirled. "How long was I out?"

"Nearly an entire week, really. You were shot up pretty bad- some of the doctors weren't sure how you managed to get by and avoid shots to the vital regions." Another meaningful look, and Maqui looked sheepish. Of course Hope had healed the worst of the injuries. "Of course, Hope was pretty badly off, too. But he said that you insisted he stay behind you and you tried to run through the room to draw fire." This time, Snow didn't look too impressed with him.

It was at that moment when Maqui was about to laugh nervously and wave that off when the door opened again, and Serah walked into the room first, although the sounds of conversation followed her. She was carrying a doggy bag with her, and brightened when she saw Snow, and even more when she saw Maqui awake.

"You're awake!" Serah all but squealed happily, rushing over to give Maqui a giant hug. He laughed as she did, raising his own arms shakily to pat her back, trying very hard not to stare at the other two who had just walked into the room at all.

Serah drew back after a moment and smiled brightly at him, patting down his hair and then taking a seat at his bedside, completely ignoring a protesting Snow. "How are you feeling? Are you hungry? You must be hungry! We brought back some food from the store so it's better than the hospital food here- you can have it."

"Hey!" Snow protested, looking hurt. "Where's my hug? Wasn't that food supposed to be for me?"

"You can have the muffin that Hope brought back," Serah volunteered for him, patting Snow placatingly on the arm, but then pointed at Maqui. "I'm afraid the hero today is this one over here."

"I'm the hero _everyday_, babe," Snow protested with a grin, leaning over to kiss her on the cheek. "But I'll lend that title just for today."

Serah laughed and turned her attention back to Maqui, her smile now as soft as ever. "But really, how are you feeling? Do you hurt anywhere? Because according to the doctors, you're not supposed to hurt at all."

Maqui smiled up at her nervously, fiddling with his hands even as his palms started to grow sweaty knowing that Hope was in the same room observing him. "Feeling great, actually! Haven't felt better in a long time- docs weren't lying, I really can't feel any pains or aches at all."

Serah just beamed at him. "Good. You're the hero for today, and you shouldn't be in pain. Have you seen all the presents you got from people? You wouldn't believe the media coverage! This just might be the changing point for everyone, and you had a huge part in it."

"Serah, love," Snow spoke up weakly. "I don't think we're supposed to talk about that right now."

Serah nodded absently, but dropped the topic, even as Maqui's curiosity was peaked. She seemed to settle after a moment and pat his hands, gathering them to her. Maqui had to marvel at what small hands she had... that was what he always like about girls- their hands and how bright they always seemed to be. It had never been able the figure or even the make-up like Yuj like to rant about. It had been their smiles and personalities and their smaller hands still as capable as a guy's.

"Thank you, though." She said sincerely, personality much more subdued now, much more the Serah that Maqui was used to. "For bringing Hope back and never letting go of his hand."

"Serah!" Came the embarrassed protest from the other side of the room, and Maqui could feel his face heat up in what he imagined was the same with Hope right now. But Serah just smiled brilliantly and patted Maqui's hands again.

"You know about that?" He mumbled in embarrassment, and Serah's smile only grew wider even as Snow chastised her lightly for teasing them.

"C'mon, love," Snow was saying. "Let's let the boys talk, alright? I'm sure they have a few things they'd like to say to each other first, and a few memory gaps to fill."

"Right, right," Serah relented, getting up. Still, she gave Maqui one land pat on his hands before smiling and letting go. "I'll visit you in a little while, okay?"

He almost protested and asked her to stay, but relented from doing so, instead looking over to the other side of the room for the first time since the door had opened.

Hope was standing on the other side of the room awkwardly, just slightly behind Lightning even as he gripped on the edge of her shirt slightly, looking down at the floor with a hint of red on his cheeks. Maqui almost grinned at the sight, but refrained from doing so as he saw Lightning's frown in his direction. Still, she didn't comment, and as Serah and Snow passed her, she also turned to go, but not before giving Hope a hug and a whisper to stay in the room and that she'd be back soon.

It was just a few moments later that the door closed behind them and the boys were left alone, and Hope moved to sit on his bed awkwardly, the silence strained between the two of them.

It took a minute before Maqui could the courage to speak up. "About that. Are you okay? Snow didn't tell me, and..." He trailed off, mouth feeling extremely dry. He had been worried as well. It was mentioned that the younger boy had been hurt, but how badly?

And had it really been his fault?

Maqui swallowed heavily as he waited for the other teen to answer his question.

Hope just shrugged a bit, though, still looking uncomfortable. "It wasn't too bad. You were much worse off. I mean, if I hadn't-" he cut off there, and Maqui just nodded a bit, understanding what Hope was trying to say. "Well, it was pretty bad. You shouldn't just... just charge into the situation like that!" There, his voice turned louder in his scorn and he protested, "You could have gotten killed, you know? One bullet, just _one_ in the wrong place, and there would have been nothing I could have done anyway."

The younger boy scoffed even as Maqui cringed a bit at the lecture. "Well. I probably could have done something, but it wouldn't have been good otherwise. And even still, that was _dangerous_. How... what made you even run into the fray like that?"

Maqui was quiet until Hope finished yelling.

"Are you done now?"

"No!" Hope huffed, although he sounded much more put out that the blond wasn't raising to his tone. "It's just... you ever think I'd be worried, too? Huh?"

This conversation was turning in a direction that Maqui wasn't sure he could understand. What was Hope even talking about? Was he trying to say that he was worried? That maybe... no, but Maqui wasn't ready to be that optimistic.

Despite Hope's protest, the younger boy fell silent and Maqui finally spoke up in wonderment. "Is that what the others said to you when they realized that we tried to break out instead of staying in the cell and waiting to be rescued?"

A moment of stubborn silence, and then Hope admitted reluctantly. "Yeah. Pretty much word for word."

The blond just laugh a bit, quietly but still more than a chuckle. Of course that was what Lightning would say to Hope... and he understood how the younger boy would be agitated by the injuries as well... Maqui may have slept a week, but that just meant that everyone had been worried for just about a full week. Really, he should feel more sorry than what he currently felt, but all he could feel right now was relief. Relief that the other boy was even willing to talk to him right now.

"I'm sorry," Maqui finally said when he stopped laughing, although he was unsure if that apology was genuine or not. It felt like the right thing to say, that was all. But still, he smiled up at the other scowling boy, wanting to do nothing more than to reach out and pull at his cheeks and claim that Hope wasn't made to scowl. "I should have thought it through, yeah, you're right. I'll be sure to do that next time."

"There won't _be_ a next time," Hope claimed, although he didn't sound very sure of that. "You weren't supposed to be taken in the first place- they were only going after me, and then the others would have known where I was. You should have just..." He fell quiet, that familiar pink staining his cheeks. "You should have just let go of my hand. I'm sorry. You shouldn't have been over that night. I should have thought... well, everything had been so quiet lately, I thought it was okay."

"We still have to talk about that," Maqui insisted. He wanted to know. "What do you mean by predicting it? About knowing bad things was going to happen?"

But Hope just shook his head to silence him. "Not now. Not here. I might... I might tell you later, but not right now, and not in a public place. Still. I just thought that the past few weeks, it'd just be... a normal life, you know? Just going to school and coming home and doing homework... going to lessons and staying out of trouble. That's all it was supposed to be. Just... staying out of trouble and trying not to draw attention to myself." He chuckled bitterly. "I kind of failed in that, didn't I? We're both pretty well known now. All over the news and everything. At least it's not a bad kind of attention. I guess it could have been worse."

Maqui was quiet after that for a moment. He had been meaning to ask about that as well. It wasn't that he didn't want to be advertised as a hero, it was just that he had always been a hero in his head, and that was all he ever needed to be. Team NORA was a group of heroes, and they knew that. And that was all that they needed to know. No one else needed to believe in them as long as they could believe in themselves.

"Do you think it was a mistake, then? Inviting me over?" Maqui asked, and then amended himself. "I mean, letting me sleep over. I kind of invited myself over, I guess-"

"I invited you over." Hope interrupted. "It wasn't your fault. You just... asked if I wanted to play games, and I did, I really did." The younger boy was fiddling nervously with his fingers. "But... I can't go to the arcade. At least. It would make it too obvious."

"Make what too obvious?" Maqui had a feeling he should know this already, but he still wanted to clarify.

Hope sighed, finally looking up again so that Maqui could see his pale green eyes. "My dad. You already know he's important now. I mean, he's important enough that people want me out of the way so that they can blackmail him. I pretty much have people following me around everywhere... I'm not even allowed to walk home by myself, okay? I can't cross the street without..." He made a disgusted noise. "He's just... really overprotective right now, I get that. And I get that it's completely warranted, too. We talked about it, we did. I understand what it means, and what it takes, but..."

He looked down again, this time looking far younger than his years. "I guess I just wanted a weekend where I didn't have to think about it, you know?"

Maqui stayed silent through that, processing the information. It wasn't too hard to connect the dots. He knew that Bartholomew Estheim loved his son dearly, and would certainly be overprotective after the death of his wife. The new world wasn't an easy one, both physically and emotionally. People were still struggling with the changes they had to go through in order to survive on Gran Pulse, and a lot of them were bitter, he knew. Even more of them were grieving over dead family and friends, since a good portion of Cocoon had died during both the Pulsian invasion in Eden and when Cocoon had fallen. It was hard enough for the former l'Cie on Pulse, as he was pretty sure that the people who stayed in Cocoon had harsher prejudices than those who had chosen to move down to Pulse.

"Hey," Maqui spoke up, and Hope looked up at him. The blond smiled disarmingly, making himself more comfortable against the headboard. "I had a lot of fun, you know? And I'm really glad I got to come over." His smile wavered just the slightest bit at the thought of the kidnapping, though. Of being locked up and shot, of the rage he had felt against the soldier he had killed just through physical force, and the troop who had drowned in a ankle-deep puddle of water.

But he had been there when it mattered.

"Do you mind... if we kind of made this a tradition? Playing video games over the weekend? I mean, it probably wouldn't be _every_ weekend since you've got schoolwork and I've got... stuff. And I'd really rather not be kidnapped every week. Every other week, though..." He trailed off with a grin, and Hope laughed, even if the sound was rough and slightly hysterical.

"I can't believe you'd still want to come over after this!" Hope manage to say in between his chuckles. "I mean... you were _shot_!"

"So were you!" Maqui protested, somehow feeling better about it. At least he wasn't hurting anywhere. "But hey, you know what I was told? I was told that I'm somehow a world hero now- after I spent a weekend with you." Maqui grinned lopsidedly. "That could only mean good things, right?"

Hope huffed, although he couldn't seem to rid himself of the slight smile. "You're an idiot."

"I've been told that before!" Maqui responded cheerfully. Really, it was more that he heard Snow called that by just about everyone, but he didn't mind the title. He had never really heard it used harshly before, after all. It had always been a kind of endearment, and he didn't mind being called that by Hope. "So does that mean we're on for this weekend? I'll buy the pizza."

Hope's smile grew wider even as he looked away. "I hope you're not going for extra cheese."

Maqui couldn't help it. Just seeing Hope smile like that was making him smile as well, and he felt warm just knowing that the other boy was still willing to spend time with him, even after the events of... last week, was it? "I'll order extra, just for you!"

He only laughed when Hope reached over to pull a flower from one of the bouquets on the bedside table and tossed it at his face.

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* * *

.

Hope was asleep when Bartholomew Estheim came to visit, looking tired and very much relieved to see his son resting on the hospital bed, even as Maqui glanced up from the book he had been reading (the one that Snow had left behind- honestly, it had taken him hours before he was willing to pick up what was so obviously a cheesy romance novel. But sixty pages in, and he had to admit, the... story... was really good), bookmarking the page nervously and giving the harried father a timid smile.

"Sir."

Mr. Estheim just waved off his greeting with a tired smile, settling into the chair that Snow had sat in, reaching out to pull the covers over Hope's exposed arms. The teen in question grumbled for a moment before settling back into sleep as the two of them held their breaths.

"I heard you had woken up." Bartholomew said after a minute, making sure that Hope was well asleep. The man gave a smile as he took off his glasses to rub at weary eyes. "I would have come earlier, but apparently paperwork waits for no one."

Maqui was half tempted to protest that children growing up didn't wait for anything, either, but he kept silent knowing that the man only wanted what was best for Hope, and was doing his very best to give his son a better future. Even if he didn't exactly agree with the methods.

"I wanted to thank you, Maqui." Bartholomew said seriously, slipping his glasses back on to scrutinize the nervous teen. "I have to admit I was... hesitant when Hope called and asked if you could come over for the weekend, and even more dubious when he asked if you could stay over. He's a smart child. He could do so much with his life... and right now, what he needs to do is focus on his studies. But I suppose every child needs time to play as well."

He sighed deeply, and Maqui didn't dare to interrupt him. "That would be Nora's teachings. She always did encourage Hope to play video games and read fictional novels. She encouraged him to play outside as well, but luckily, my son always preferred staying in. But Hope has a great mind, even if he doesn't see it himself."

The older man was glancing sadly at his son. "So much like Nora. She could have been anything she wanted to be with that mind of hers... but what she wanted most was to stay and watch him grow up."

"I think she made the right choice... sir." Maqui protested, but Bartholomew just raised a hand to silence him.

"I didn't say that she didn't. She was a wonderful mother, and a wonderful wife. It's just a shame. But it was, of course, her choice, and I respect her choice. I just want to give Hope the same choice. I want him to be great... if he so chooses to be." The man leaned back in his chair. "Still, right now, I will have him learn as much as he can. So he has the chance to choose from everything when he grows up. That's all I want for him... do you understand this, Maqui?"

He didn't, but he managed a nod despite that.

The man just smiled, though. "Yes, I thought you wouldn't. It's alright. I suppose it's a thing for parents. But I know he's unhappy at school right now. Public school never did agree with him... I wanted him home tutored, but Nora was always against it. Said he needed to make friends as he grew up. He needed to play and be a child. But now that she's gone... I can't help but think that perhaps tutoring was the best idea, after all. But I want to honor her wish." He hesitated a moment, and then admitted, "I was thinking of enrolling him in a private school. One much smaller, but where he would be able interact with others his age. The school would be much better protected as well. I won't risk another event like this one."

Private school? It wasn't hard to figure out what Bartholomew was talking about, as there was only one private high school on Gran Pulse at the moment, seeing as most of the population had stayed on Cocoon and the ones who had moved to Gran Pulse were more concerned with rebuilding the basic essentials than private schools. But it was nearly a thirty minute drive from the area where the Estheims lived... halfway to where Lightning and Team NORA was staying. Directly in the middle of their civilization, completely protected from any and all Pulsian monsters.

"I understand that school only has a good hundred students, so that many of the classes are mixed. You've been a good friend to my son, Maqui, and even Miss Farron has good things to say about you."

What? Miss Lightning did? Somehow, Maqui found that hard to believe.

"As such, I have a request to make of you." Bartholomew said, and this time when he smiled, there was no humor to it.

.

* * *

.

Hope tried to stem his irritation even as the teacher continued lecturing on the laws of entropy and crap. He glared stubbornly at the screen in front of him, tapping his stylus in time to his own heartbeat, trying to pay attention but failing.

What the hell was his dad playing at, anyway? He understood, he _did_, and it wasn't like he liked high school so far (it was boring and somewhat pathetic and so much less than what he had expected. He couldn't understand why his mom had been so excited for him to attend before), but he didn't want to be transferred, either! Not so far away, where he had to be driven everyday rather than just walking the few blocks.

He had to hold back a scowl. At this rate, he might as well just stay at Light's half the time. It wasn't as if his dad was home most of the time, anyway. Hope didn't know why he had expected things to change after waking up from crystallization. His dad had always been busy at work, and just too busy to pay attention to his family. It was true that it was getting better... they always made an attempt to see each other for at least ten minutes every day, but with the way the new government campaigns were going, it was only going to get busier for whoever wanted to run as politicians.

But of all things... getting _Maqui_ to tell him about the school transfer? What was so wrong with telling him _himself_?

He could deal with the empty house. Really, he could. As long as he had some sort of music blasting or the holo-vid playing in the other room, it wasn't so ghostly quiet. It was in the silence that he missed his mother the most, but it wasn't as if there was anything to be done. Nora Estheim had been an unfortunate victim of the Purge and everything that came after. With half the world dead, there wasn't anyone left who wasn't mourning for a loved one.

He got that he was only fourteen and supposed to start high school this year. He got that his dad was trying to make the world a better place, one without fal'Cie rule and where he could actually live in peace. There were still people on the streets that stared at him with hate in their eyes when he walked their way, after all, and Hope was no stranger to the violence that stemmed from hate like that. It was because of the laws that his father had lobbied for that no one had tried to knife him in the streets yet.

But he was still waiting. Maybe if someone tried to do that, he would finally be able to fight back. He felt so _limited_ with all the rules and regulations that he had to play under. No magic, no games, no self-defense lessons... he wasn't allowed to be anything other than the model child of a war-torn family. Be played up as the victim of the fal'Cie and all their schemes. Be the innocent child dragged into the mess.

Except he _wasn't_. While he hadn't wanted anything to do with the entire journey, he wasn't ashamed of it. He had _survived_. Survived against all odds, and made a family outside of blood. He had grown up and learned how to fight. It was ridiculous that his dad wanted him to ignore that.

He pursed his lips as he tapped the stylus against the screen, bringing up the equations and solutions needed for the pop quiz that was just assigned to them.

Hope breathed out as he finished the quiz within seconds and submitted it, bringing up a hand to rub at his eyes. No. He was just irritated, that was all. He did understand his father's point of view. He agreed with it, even. He just... hated starting a new school. He had barely gotten settled into his last school, why did his dad really need to enroll him in a private school for, anyway? Besides, he _hated_ the uniforms, and he was sure that his mom would have hated them, too. They were boring.

There was the hiss of the door opening, and he didn't bother to look up even as he doodling over his computer screen with the stylus, waiting for the clock to ring the end of the class.

It wasn't until he heard his teacher clear her throat nervously to grab the attention of the class that he looked up.

"Children," She said, tapping her desk. "It seems we have another new student today."

Maqui just grinned widely from the front of the class.

.

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Part 3/3

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**AN:** Aaand this is the note I'm ending this year with. I hope everyone had a great 2010, and is ready for an even better 2011! Gotta party it up if 2012 really is the end of the world, right? I've got the next story started, but oh man, it's going to be longer than this and _Kinematics_, probably combined. So I can post it slowly or I can finish the entire thing and then post it like these two stories, except it'd be... well, a long while before it comes out.

Hope everyone enjoyed this little piece, and wow, it's great to know there are some people reading this little universe! And liking it, wow! So it's really a thank you to everyone who read through this and actually remembered the previous story over half a year ago. I hope everyone continues to enjoy this small corner universe in the FFXIII fandom!


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